A Boston College sports blog capturing the highs and lows of being a BC fan living 1,000 miles from Chestnut Hill.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Will the real Eagles please stand up?

I know there is some BC sports fatigue out there right now, but we still have winter sports to play! Tonight the men's basketball team take on Wake Forest. Wake Forest enters the game undefeated and very good. They are good on both ends of the floor and better defensively than North Carolina. The team that beat the Heels can handle Wake. The team that lost to Harvard will get killed. Which team is the real BC?

The keys to victory are as follows:

-- Control the defensive boards. Like us, Wake lives off of offensive rebounds. It helps their efficiency and point totals. BC cannot allow second chance points.-- Avoid foul trouble. The foul trouble in some games has hurt our rotation and sent our opponents to the line. Wake shoots 70% from the line.-- Find good shots. The difference between Miami and Nort Carolina was shot selection. This team needs to work the possessions until they get the high percentage play.

Harvard was clearly a letdown. Miami was a hard fought game where BC did not execute well. Tonight is a true test. They can beat Wake but will need great performances and smart play.

20 Comments:

The problem in the Miami was not shot selection. The problem was far too many missed open shots from close range. Plus, even with those misses, BC still scored 1.07 points per possession in the Miami game, a strong offensive showing. BC lost because of their defense. Miami scored too easily, which is a common theme for BC foes. BC needs to play better defense to consistently win games and have a shot a tournament berth.

I'm very pumped for this game tonight... BC has shown many faces this season, but I believe that they will show up tonight. Why? I dunno.

Rice always brings his best against the best.... and Teague only trails Hansbrough in ACC scoring. Let's watch as Tyrese outplays their star guard.

Let's watch as Southern shuts down their 7 footer. Southern will outplay and outwork McFarland when Wake has the ball, and show why he is the next best thing in the ACC paint. Who knows whether he will contribute on the offensive end... but it's only a matter of time before he records a double-double and hits a couple of elbow jumpers.

I am still convinced that Trapani is better than he has been playing in the last couple of games. If nothing else, he needs to box-out. They have forwards that will attack the glass, so we need to out-hustle and out-muscle them.

Haven't heard an reports about Raji. If he can't go... is Tyler Roche gonna start and play 25-30 minutes? I wonder how we would match up with Jackson starting and Sanders being the 3 by default. Let's hope Raji can go, as rebound will be key.

Let's hope that the Eagles are starting to learn about themselves -- how good they can be, and how bad they can be. They know how to record a big win, and also a bad loss. Let's hope that we have a typical Skinner team that starts to get on a roll soon. This would be a huge W for our team, and further solidify our status in the conference. It will prove that UNC was not an aberration, and propel us to a solid year.

Just once I'd like to see Coach Al admit that a man-to-man is not working against a team with more height and superior talent and switch to or try a zone.

God forbid we should try any type of press or even token pressure to try to slow down the transition.

18 games into the season and getting the ball inbounds is still an adventure.

Finally, it the "stuffed in" flex some kind of religious obsession? Its clear the players have no faith in this offense, or at least this version of it. This is not going to work against a team with a 7-footer and a 6'11' guy underneath.

The "Curse of Jags" continues. No BC men's team has won since he was fired.

Agree with Lenny. This team got hot behind the arc and made it interesting in the second half (great night for Biko), but they were outclassed by Wake's talent in the first half and dug themselves a hole they couldn't get out of.

Is it just me or does Skinner's rotation (if you can call it that) drive you insane? The only consistent thing seems to be Reggie off the bench first, which is exactly where he should be. Otherwise on any given day, its a crapshoot.

In the first half today, he had Roche and Dunn off the bench. Then in the second half, Biko suddenly comes in for the rest of the game and Dunn ends up with 17 minutes. I know Southern had a little foul trouble but towards the five minute mark Dunn was obviously gassed but no sub was made. Biko wont play or barely play in a few games and all of sudden he is in there basically the whole second half.

On a similar note, what about the lineup he used for the majority of the second half. Rice, Biko, Jackson (the 3?!?!), Trapani and Dunn. Granted they did make a mini-run towards a comeback but no Sanders?? Raji (didn't seem he was injured).

Big Guy: Sanders had 4 fouls which forced Al's hand into moving Reggie to the 3. It obviously put us at a size disadvantage, but I like Biko running point and allowing Rice to free himself for shots.

The game was rough although there were a few positives:1) The fans came out...let's hope they keep it up2) Reggis is going to be a special player. He plays with a confidence that we probably haven't seen in a freshman since Ryan Sidney.3) Biko is capable of running the offense and played solid defense as well.

Sanders was terrible. My ocnfidence in Biko is a little low, but he did show something last night. I'm a fan of trying different things when you're getting killed instead of sticking with them (see Logan, Steve), so I'm in favor of Biko and Rice being on the floor at the same time, as a way to throw up a different look.

The crowd was good. Hopefully the slaughter won't discourage everyone from coming back for other games, like winnable NC State.

crowd was good, but this was the #2 team in the country. in past years we've sold this game out. and the empty seats were in the red chair backs. looks like gene succeeded in pricing the real fans out with his new policy a few years back.

about the game, they looked asleep a few times in the first half.

we have no inbounds plays and it is pathetic. that is all on skinner.

did anyone see what spaz was wearing? i got a pretty good laugh out of it, pink shirt suit, and white sneakers.

The students and younger fans need to be close to the floor on each side. Those empty chairs look awful on TV - and I agree, JOforthree. The fans are sending Gene a message "we resent your seat pricing policy", etc. If the team continues to be unable to win in the ACC, the seats will remain empty and it will become a very vicious cycle. In order to turn this around, we need leadership - hello Gene, are you there?

Also, that flex offense is brutal.

I didn't have the chance to watch the entire game last night, but when I was watching in the 2nd half and our guys were throwing up bricks from the free throw line, I just turned it off. I can't take the aggravation. Memories of O'Brien's teams past flashed before me - worst free throw shooting teams in college basketball - here we go again. Pathetic.

The only consistent thing seems to be Reggie off the bench first, which is exactly where he should be.

I hope you mean he should be playing and not sitting on the bench. He definitely has the most talent of anyone on our squad not named Rice. Speaking of which, do we ever think Rice will show up for an entire game again? It just doesn't make sense and is KILLING his draft stock.

On another note, a friend who went to the game emailed and thought it was funny that after Spaz gave his "pep talk" to the crowd during the time out, Wake went on an 8-0 run.

Those courtside seats under the hoop must be new. When I was at BC, the students went pretty much all the way to the endlines, and the band was closer to the floor. I've been to games this year, and those seats are almost always empty. They should just get rifd of them and bring the students back to the floor.

Also, a lack of interior D and no big men to answer Wake's two hurt us too. They just didn't look very inspired until it was too late.

I think it is absolutely inexcusable for us to be so unprepared in the first half. off their normal offensive sets in the first half wake was able to throw alleyoop after alleyoop on our team.

i also think it is absurd that we run the flex offense when our best players are guards and we are undersized. I love the thought of Josh Southern and Dunn making elbow to elbow passes while tyrese rice and paris post up.

While i think al does recruit some incredible talent i think it is inexcusable for an acc team to not have one veteran big man on the team. regardless if the player starts or not due to a big time freshman or sophomore, i believe it is important to have a veteran down low.

all in all, i really think our team has potential. I know it is so easy to critique them after losing to the #2 team in the country, but there are some blatant holes and question marks for this team that i think really need to be reevaluated.

Don’t even pick up your morning cup of Java. I’m going to make you sick to your stomach. I think that your new motto should be “Don’t Be A Spaz”.

I believe that dedication and loyalty are values that are deeply missed in our society today. Who stays in their current position or company for more than two years? Not many people these days.

If you were looking for a coach that has those values, then Frank Spaziani was the right man. He will not jump ship like Sags and Blogan.

If you were looking for a coach that has the ability to win us a National Championship, then you made the wrong decision.

If you were looking for a coach that would bring name recognition and the media spotlight on the school, then you made the wrong decision.

Gene…we need to face some facts here. You are not doing a really good job when it comes to coaching hires. Asking BC football players, who will be gone in 3 to 4 years, who they think would be a good coach is not the way this business works. If the players are not happy with your selection, they can transfer elsewhere.

Why didn’t you do a thorough outside coaching search? Why were you in such a rush? Why didn’t you do your homework? Why was it a hasty decision? These are answers that the alumni deserve to hear…..why the darkness?

Some of the alumni were a bit miffed at your hiring of Jags and some other things that were going on, but we gave you the benefit of the doubt and let you steer the ship. After the events of the last two weeks, the alumni have no confidence in you. We should have been proud that BC Basketball beat #1 UNC but your quick temper and sense of righteousness destroyed that. We are disappointed in you.

Thanks for the move to the ACC. You were key to that but I believe that it is time for you to move on. There is no shame in leaving now. There is someone we all know with strong ties to BC that could build on your success and take us to new Heights.

Finally, it is not that I don’t like Spaz. He is a great DC, but is he HC material? We will see this season. I hope that he turns out to be another Coughlin but I think we have another Henning on our hands.

Remember Gene we can always return to the Big East and go back to the good old days….remember when we used to sneak nips into MSG during the Big East Tournament. Fun times….too bad Charlotte is just not the same.

Brookline: way to hijack a thread about the basketball team with a completely irrelevant letter. Everyone here knows what you think of the Gene/Jags/Spaz mess. We get it. I actually agree with you on many things (ie, it was mishandled and the "outside search" was a joke). But this is absurd. Be concise. Be on-topic. I can't speak for everyone, but your letters just make me angry and less inclined to take you seriously. Kudos for being upfront about your agenda, but simmer down a little bit or you risk alienating the people that agree with you. Oh, and there's no way we go to the Big East in the forseeable future. Sorry.